Gone with the Wind was written by Margaret Mitchell and is referred to as one of the greatest American love stories. One particular reason to why I chose this book was because it is renown for being an American classic.
Genre
This novel had an incredibly diverse storyline fitting into the genres of historical fiction and romance fiction. There are multiple parts in the novel where many different themes come in resulting in a genre change. Every great novel written revolves around multiple genres but there is always at least one main genre that is represented on almost every single page. The reason why the novel fits into historical fiction and romance fiction best is because that is what the story revolves around or comes back to in every chapter. While the genre might change in the beginning of the chapter it always comes back to one or the other of two genres in some way. Whether that way is not the clearest or if it is laid out right in front of you on the page. That’s one of the reasons, besides the main storyline, why I loved this book so much. The way the genre changed kept me interested throughout chapters.
Summary
Gone with the Wind revolves around the young Scarlett O’Hara and all the events that went on in her life as a young adult. It starts out by introducing Scarlett as a sixteen-year-old girl living with her parents, Gerald and Ellen, and two sisters, Suellen and Caroline, in their beautiful plantation called “Tara” in Georgia. The main time period in which the story revolves around is The American Civil War (1861-1865), and a bit after it. All the men would speak about the war in excitement, saying they were almost hoping it would begin, while the women would not say anything but be thinking the exact opposite. Scarlett was sitting on the front porch thinking about her beaux, Ashley Wilkes, who she was hoping would propose to her the next day at his families barbeque. She had no time to think about the war, she had more important things to worry about, like what she was going to wear to grab Ashley’s attention and remembering the past summer she had spent almost everyday with Ashley. The next day at the barbeque she sees Ashley but he is not looking at her, he is gazing into the eyes of his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett had heard rumors of Ashley and Melanie to be engaged, but Ashley would not marry Melanie when she was so positive he loved herself. Scarlett manages to pull Ashley aside to the library and admits her love for him, he says he cares about her but a marriage would not work because of their great personality differences. Scarlett loses her temper and slaps Ashley; he then walks away with a broken look on his face. While Scarlett is attempting to pull her together she realizes there was a man sitting on the couch in the library, he had seen the whole thing. His name was Rhett Butler, and he applauded Scarlett for her unladylike spirit. She furiously walks away and rejoins the party. It is then that she finds out the war had been declared and all the men had been enlisted. Then Scarlett greets Charles Hamilton, the brother of Melanie, whom proposes to Scarlett. Still being hurt by the argument with Ashley, she accepts and becomes pregnant. After Charles had left for the war he was killed, and she gives birth to a boy who she named Wade. Being a widow she must follow tradition and wear only black and avoid conversation with men. Melanie invites Scarlett to live with her and Aunt Pittypat in Atlanta. She accepts even though she despises Melanie, reason being because she married Ashley. At a Confederate dance Scarlett meets Rhett again, who invites her up to dance. She accepts which people are shocked because she was a widow still dressed in black. In Christmas of 1863 Ashley returns for a short while, in which he and Scarlett kiss, bringing a great deal of guilt and anger to Ashley. In 1864 Atlanta was under siege and the pregnant Melanie goes into labor and Scarlett had to help her. Melanie gives birth to a boy named Beauregard. They then start to flee and Rhett shows up with a tattered horse and small carriage for them to take, but Rhett stayed behind. Scarlett decides that they should go to Tara. On arriving there Scarlett is told that her mother had passed away. Confederate soldiers begin to show up at Tara for shelter, and one of the soldiers was Ashley, whose spirit had been broken. Scarlett soon realizes they have no money and need to pay the taxes for the plantation, she returns to Atlanta to try and get money from Rhett, but he is in jail. Scarlett finds the love of her sister Suellen, Frank Kennedy, and marries him because she knows he has money. He gives her the money to pay the taxes; Scarlett later buys a sawmill to make sure they will not run out of money. She learns that she is pregnant, so she convinces Ashley to come and run the mill for a while. She gives birth to a girl, she named her Ella Lorena after her mother. At that time Georgia is under martial law and one night when Scarlett was riding home, two men attempted to rob her, luckily she got away. Frank being furious about this, he attempts to avenge Scarlett; Frank was shot dead during a Ku Klux Klan raid. Scarlett is a widow once again, but one year later she is engaged to Rhett. Scarlett become pregnant again and is furious about it. A while later there is a surprise party for Ashley, so Scarlett is asked to keep him at the mill. Scarlett starts to cry and Ashley holds her tightly, his sister sees it and gets the wrong idea. Melanie and Rhett hear about it, but Melanie refuses to believe it because she loved Ashley and Scarlett both so much. Rhett leaves town for a few weeks and returns, he and Scarlett argue resulting in her jumping on him, he pushes her off and she falls down the stairs. She becomes incredibly ill, and loses the child. Feeling like it is his entire fault, Rhett admits to Melanie he was jealous of Ashley. Scarlett becomes pregnant again and gives birth to a girl named Bonnie, who Rhett spoils like crazy. While riding her miniature pony one day Bonnie falls off and breaks her neck. After the death of Bonnie, Rhett starts drinking heavily. A while after Bonnie’s death Melanie dies as well. The ending of this novel will remain a secret, until you read the pages with your own eyes.
Major Conflict
A major conflict in the story is the one that always takes place between Scarlett and Rhett. At first Scarlett despises Rhett, she finds him to be rude, scandalous, sarcastic, basically everything bad. She hates how he always makes her feel stupid. It seems that everything she says he has a comeback to right away. Rhett on the other hand is mysterious. He cannot be read easily, he keeps his emotions locked away. It is only towards the very end of the novel that some of his true feelings are released. It is obvious however, that Rhett wants Scarlett to be his. Scarlett laughs at the idea and claims she will never be his wife. He laughs and says he is not the marrying type; he wanted Scarlett to be his mistress. She shoots down that offer immediately. She was insulted that he would ask such a thing of her. After a few chapters Rhett asks Scarlett to marry him. He said that he is marrying her because he cannot risk losing her. One would think that she would turn this down in a second, but she accepts it. After a few weeks of being married Scarlett starts to get annoyed with Rhett constantly and returns to thinking about Ashley. Rhett tries to seem as if he does not care, but he really does. Every time Scarlett would mention Ashley, Rhett’s blood would go cold. The conflict between Scarlett and Rhett revolves around Scarlett wanting Ashley and Rhett wanting Scarlett to want him instead. The conflict is just one huge love triangle.
Major Ideas
The big idea at first was for Scarlett to take Ashley back from Melanie. She felt as though it was Melanie who stole Ashley from herself, so she was simply taking back what was hers at first. Then as the storyline gets deeper it starts to develop into the fact that Scarlett just wants to survive the war and keep her family back in Tara safe. It is shown how Scarlett grows throughout the book, she realizes she is the strongest and she needs to do whatever it takes to keep herself safe. That would make it seem like she is very selfless, which it is, although she remains self – centered throughout the novel, it’s just who she is. After going through many traumatizing things, like losing her father and mother, Scarlett starts to worry about money. Throughout the rest of the novel Scarlett’s concern main concern was having money. Not just enough money to get by, but more than enough. It is then that Scarlett marries Rhett, who has more than enough money. The marriage to Rhett allows for Scarlett to feel secure, and like she was young again because Rhett spoiled her so. After the marriage, the fear of not having money is gone so what is the big idea now? The big idea goes back to the very first one. Scarlett’s feelings for Ashley come flooding back stronger than ever. It’s a very strange feeling fro Scarlett because she’s loved Ashley for so long, but there is something about Rhett that draws her to him. The big idea may change multiple times, but it still comes back around to the first one.
Words
1. Fiddle -dee- dee – Scarlett used it when she was trying to show sarcasm with a bit of charm to it.
i. “Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. Besides... there isn't going to be any war.”
2. Yankees- what Southerners called Northerners, not a compliment
i. “Yankees in Georgia! How did they ever get in?"
3. Cocklebur – something annoying that does not leave you alone
i. “She stuck by Scarlett’s side like a cocklebur.”
4. Beaux – a boy who the girl flirts with but is not interested in
i. “If you were too nice to young husbands, their wives said you were fast and you got a bad reputation and never caught any beaux of your own.”
5. Hobnobbing – Speaking with people in an inappropriate situation
i. “In Belle Watling’s bar hobnobbing with the wealthier of the Yankees and Carpetbaggers in money making schemes.”
Visual
This collage that I drew symbolizes Scarlett O’Hara. It symbolizes how she changed throughout the novel. Scarlett was still a Southern Belle, but she had taken on new responsibilities. The dress, fan, and umbrella represent the woman in Scarlett. The gun, money, cigar, and whiskey represent the man. Scarlett wished to remain the proper young lady to whom her mother had raised her to be, but after the war she was forced to take on the responsibilities of a man. However the heart represents both sides of Scarlett. The heart shows how no matter which side she is representing she is always trying to get the love that she wants. It shows even though she may be seen as improper taking on these masculine things, she is still a woman searching for her great love.
Similarities
Gone with the Wind is one hundred percent unique. The setting, the storyline, the characters, everything was created in Margaret Mitchell’s mind. When being asked about the plantation where the book first opens Margaret said, “I made up Tara, just as I made up every character in the book. But nobody will believe me.” That goes to show how she was not picking up ideas from other works, she may have gotten inspiration but everything was one of a kind. Gone with the Wind was not similar to other novels when it was first published, perhaps now there are other similar works but that is now. All of the people who read it fell in love with it and wanted to write their own interpretation of it. However there are many pieces of artwork that are based off of the descriptions of the different settings in the book. The settings were described so vividly that the book almost gave directions to the artists on how to paint the painting. There was also a movie made for Gone with the Wind, and it was right on target of what I imagined everything to be. Usually movies almost ruin the book because the readers view is completely altered, and sometimes not for the best. One movie that I feel is slightly similar to Gone with the Wind would be Duchess. It has somewhat of the same plot, still quite different but certain similarities. This just goes to show how Gone with the Wind truly fits into the saying “One in a million.”
Characters
Scarlett O’Hara is a strong willed young women of Irish and French blood. It was said that Scarlett was not beautiful but had an effect on men. She is incredibly charming and can get any man in Georgia, except for the one that she wants. She speaks her mind whenever she feels the need, she does not fall into the category of ladylike. She can be ladylike, she knows the traditions and such, but chooses to be herself. She blames her Irish blood for it. She claims that is why she is so strong willed, she told herself that she would save the plantation after the war, which she did. She gets everything one-way or the other. The only thing she could never really get a firm grasp on was Ashley. By the time she could have taken him for herself she realized she did not love him. “He never really existed at all, except in my imagination," she thought wearily. "I loved something I made up, something that's just as dead as Melly is. I made a pretty suit of clothes and fell in love with it. And when Ashley came riding along, so handsome, so different, I put that suit on him and made him wear it whether it fitted him or not. And I wouldn't see what he really was. I kept on loving the pretty clothes-and not him at all.” Scarlett realized that she could have Ashley after Melanie died, but she felt differently about him. He was no longer the man she thought she wanted.
Rhett Butler is an older man, and the admirer of Scarlett and third husband. He is much like Scarlett, strong willed and honest. Many people try to keep their distance from him because of his scandalous behavior. Though he can persuade people easily because of his charm, which is just like Scarlett. Throughout the novel Rhett pops in and out of Scarlett’s life and always leaves her, almost befuddled. He is a very mysterious man and during the Civil War he was prospering greatly, making him incredibly wealthy. Even though he is not one to show his emotions he admits to being incredibly jealous of Scarlett and Ashley. “I’ve been a jealous cad.” Rhett admitted this to Melanie after feeling guilty of hurting Scarlett. He admitted that he could always tell how Scarlett felt about Ashley and grew more and more jealous, wishing she would look at him like she looked at Ashley.
Ashley Wilkes was an incredibly highly looked upon young man, what every young girl considered perfect. He was very gallant but then after the war his spirit was broken and he was no longer that young lad anymore, the war did something to him. He was the love of Scarlett but he married his own cousin, Melanie, because he felt like it would be a better match for him than with Scarlett. He always remained very loyal to Scarlett because she always held a special place in his heart. When it became clear to Scarlett that she no longer loved Ashley, it also became clear to her that he really loved Melanie. “She's the only dream I ever had that didn't die in the face of reality.” After losing everything else from his once seemingly perfect life, Melanie was always there, and he did not want to lose her.
Title and Author
Gone with the Wind was written by Margaret Mitchell and is referred to as one of the greatest American love stories. One particular reason to why I chose this book was because it is renown for being an American classic.Genre
This novel had an incredibly diverse storyline fitting into the genres of historical fiction and romance fiction. There are multiple parts in the novel where many different themes come in resulting in a genre change. Every great novel written revolves around multiple genres but there is always at least one main genre that is represented on almost every single page. The reason why the novel fits into historical fiction and romance fiction best is because that is what the story revolves around or comes back to in every chapter. While the genre might change in the beginning of the chapter it always comes back to one or the other of two genres in some way. Whether that way is not the clearest or if it is laid out right in front of you on the page. That’s one of the reasons, besides the main storyline, why I loved this book so much. The way the genre changed kept me interested throughout chapters.Summary
Gone with the Wind revolves around the young Scarlett O’Hara and all the events that went on in her life as a young adult. It starts out by introducing Scarlett as a sixteen-year-old girl living with her parents, Gerald and Ellen, and two sisters, Suellen and Caroline, in their beautiful plantation called “Tara” in Georgia. The main time period in which the story revolves around is The American Civil War (1861-1865), and a bit after it. All the men would speak about the war in excitement, saying they were almost hoping it would begin, while the women would not say anything but be thinking the exact opposite. Scarlett was sitting on the front porch thinking about her beaux, Ashley Wilkes, who she was hoping would propose to her the next day at his families barbeque. She had no time to think about the war, she had more important things to worry about, like what she was going to wear to grab Ashley’s attention and remembering the past summer she had spent almost everyday with Ashley. The next day at the barbeque she sees Ashley but he is not looking at her, he is gazing into the eyes of his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett had heard rumors of Ashley and Melanie to be engaged, but Ashley would not marry Melanie when she was so positive he loved herself. Scarlett manages to pull Ashley aside to the library and admits her love for him, he says he cares about her but a marriage would not work because of their great personality differences. Scarlett loses her temper and slaps Ashley; he then walks away with a broken look on his face. While Scarlett is attempting to pull her together she realizes there was a man sitting on the couch in the library, he had seen the whole thing. His name was Rhett Butler, and he applauded Scarlett for her unladylike spirit. She furiously walks away and rejoins the party. It is then that she finds out the war had been declared and all the men had been enlisted. Then Scarlett greets Charles Hamilton, the brother of Melanie, whom proposes to Scarlett. Still being hurt by the argument with Ashley, she accepts and becomes pregnant. After Charles had left for the war he was killed, and she gives birth to a boy who she named Wade. Being a widow she must follow tradition and wear only black and avoid conversation with men. Melanie invites Scarlett to live with her and Aunt Pittypat in Atlanta. She accepts even though she despises Melanie, reason being because she married Ashley. At a Confederate dance Scarlett meets Rhett again, who invites her up to dance. She accepts which people are shocked because she was a widow still dressed in black. In Christmas of 1863 Ashley returns for a short while, in which he and Scarlett kiss, bringing a great deal of guilt and anger to Ashley. In 1864 Atlanta was under siege and the pregnant Melanie goes into labor and Scarlett had to help her. Melanie gives birth to a boy named Beauregard. They then start to flee and Rhett shows up with a tattered horse and small carriage for them to take, but Rhett stayed behind. Scarlett decides that they should go to Tara. On arriving there Scarlett is told that her mother had passed away. Confederate soldiers begin to show up at Tara for shelter, and one of the soldiers was Ashley, whose spirit had been broken. Scarlett soon realizes they have no money and need to pay the taxes for the plantation, she returns to Atlanta to try and get money from Rhett, but he is in jail. Scarlett finds the love of her sister Suellen, Frank Kennedy, and marries him because she knows he has money. He gives her the money to pay the taxes; Scarlett later buys a sawmill to make sure they will not run out of money. She learns that she is pregnant, so she convinces Ashley to come and run the mill for a while. She gives birth to a girl, she named her Ella Lorena after her mother. At that time Georgia is under martial law and one night when Scarlett was riding home, two men attempted to rob her, luckily she got away. Frank being furious about this, he attempts to avenge Scarlett; Frank was shot dead during a Ku Klux Klan raid. Scarlett is a widow once again, but one year later she is engaged to Rhett. Scarlett become pregnant again and is furious about it. A while later there is a surprise party for Ashley, so Scarlett is asked to keep him at the mill. Scarlett starts to cry and Ashley holds her tightly, his sister sees it and gets the wrong idea. Melanie and Rhett hear about it, but Melanie refuses to believe it because she loved Ashley and Scarlett both so much. Rhett leaves town for a few weeks and returns, he and Scarlett argue resulting in her jumping on him, he pushes her off and she falls down the stairs. She becomes incredibly ill, and loses the child. Feeling like it is his entire fault, Rhett admits to Melanie he was jealous of Ashley. Scarlett becomes pregnant again and gives birth to a girl named Bonnie, who Rhett spoils like crazy. While riding her miniature pony one day Bonnie falls off and breaks her neck. After the death of Bonnie, Rhett starts drinking heavily. A while after Bonnie’s death Melanie dies as well. The ending of this novel will remain a secret, until you read the pages with your own eyes.Major Conflict
A major conflict in the story is the one that always takes place between Scarlett and Rhett. At first Scarlett despises Rhett, she finds him to be rude, scandalous, sarcastic, basically everything bad. She hates how he always makes her feel stupid. It seems that everything she says he has a comeback to right away. Rhett on the other hand is mysterious. He cannot be read easily, he keeps his emotions locked away. It is only towards the very end of the novel that some of his true feelings are released. It is obvious however, that Rhett wants Scarlett to be his. Scarlett laughs at the idea and claims she will never be his wife. He laughs and says he is not the marrying type; he wanted Scarlett to be his mistress. She shoots down that offer immediately. She was insulted that he would ask such a thing of her. After a few chapters Rhett asks Scarlett to marry him. He said that he is marrying her because he cannot risk losing her. One would think that she would turn this down in a second, but she accepts it. After a few weeks of being married Scarlett starts to get annoyed with Rhett constantly and returns to thinking about Ashley. Rhett tries to seem as if he does not care, but he really does. Every time Scarlett would mention Ashley, Rhett’s blood would go cold. The conflict between Scarlett and Rhett revolves around Scarlett wanting Ashley and Rhett wanting Scarlett to want him instead. The conflict is just one huge love triangle.Major Ideas
The big idea at first was for Scarlett to take Ashley back from Melanie. She felt as though it was Melanie who stole Ashley from herself, so she was simply taking back what was hers at first. Then as the storyline gets deeper it starts to develop into the fact that Scarlett just wants to survive the war and keep her family back in Tara safe. It is shown how Scarlett grows throughout the book, she realizes she is the strongest and she needs to do whatever it takes to keep herself safe. That would make it seem like she is very selfless, which it is, although she remains self – centered throughout the novel, it’s just who she is. After going through many traumatizing things, like losing her father and mother, Scarlett starts to worry about money. Throughout the rest of the novel Scarlett’s concern main concern was having money. Not just enough money to get by, but more than enough. It is then that Scarlett marries Rhett, who has more than enough money. The marriage to Rhett allows for Scarlett to feel secure, and like she was young again because Rhett spoiled her so. After the marriage, the fear of not having money is gone so what is the big idea now? The big idea goes back to the very first one. Scarlett’s feelings for Ashley come flooding back stronger than ever. It’s a very strange feeling fro Scarlett because she’s loved Ashley for so long, but there is something about Rhett that draws her to him. The big idea may change multiple times, but it still comes back around to the first one.Words
1. Fiddle -dee- dee – Scarlett used it when she was trying to show sarcasm with a bit of charm to it.
i. “Fiddle-dee-dee! War, war, war; this war talk's spoiling all the fun at every party this spring. I get so bored I could scream. Besides... there isn't going to be any war.”
2. Yankees- what Southerners called Northerners, not a compliment
i. “Yankees in Georgia! How did they ever get in?"
3. Cocklebur – something annoying that does not leave you alone
i. “She stuck by Scarlett’s side like a cocklebur.”
4. Beaux – a boy who the girl flirts with but is not interested in
i. “If you were too nice to young husbands, their wives said you were fast and you got a bad reputation and never caught any beaux of your own.”
5. Hobnobbing – Speaking with people in an inappropriate situation
i. “In Belle Watling’s bar hobnobbing with the wealthier of the Yankees and Carpetbaggers in money making schemes.”Visual
This collage that I drew symbolizes Scarlett O’Hara. It symbolizes how she changed throughout the novel. Scarlett was still a Southern Belle, but she had taken on new responsibilities. The dress, fan, and umbrella represent the woman in Scarlett. The gun, money, cigar, and whiskey represent the man. Scarlett wished to remain the proper young lady to whom her mother had raised her to be, but after the war she was forced to take on the responsibilities of a man. However the heart represents both sides of Scarlett. The heart shows how no matter which side she is representing she is always trying to get the love that she wants. It shows even though she may be seen as improper taking on these masculine things, she is still a woman searching for her great love.Similarities
Gone with the Wind is one hundred percent unique. The setting, the storyline, the characters, everything was created in Margaret Mitchell’s mind. When being asked about the plantation where the book first opens Margaret said, “I made up Tara, just as I made up every character in the book. But nobody will believe me.” That goes to show how she was not picking up ideas from other works, she may have gotten inspiration but everything was one of a kind. Gone with the Wind was not similar to other novels when it was first published, perhaps now there are other similar works but that is now. All of the people who read it fell in love with it and wanted to write their own interpretation of it. However there are many pieces of artwork that are based off of the descriptions of the different settings in the book. The settings were described so vividly that the book almost gave directions to the artists on how to paint the painting. There was also a movie made for Gone with the Wind, and it was right on target of what I imagined everything to be. Usually movies almost ruin the book because the readers view is completely altered, and sometimes not for the best. One movie that I feel is slightly similar to Gone with the Wind would be Duchess. It has somewhat of the same plot, still quite different but certain similarities. This just goes to show how Gone with the Wind truly fits into the saying “One in a million.”Characters
Scarlett O’Hara is a strong willed young women of Irish and French blood. It was said that Scarlett was not beautiful but had an effect on men. She is incredibly charming and can get any man in Georgia, except for the one that she wants. She speaks her mind whenever she feels the need, she does not fall into the category of ladylike. She can be ladylike, she knows the traditions and such, but chooses to be herself. She blames her Irish blood for it. She claims that is why she is so strong willed, she told herself that she would save the plantation after the war, which she did. She gets everything one-way or the other. The only thing she could never really get a firm grasp on was Ashley. By the time she could have taken him for herself she realized she did not love him. “He never really existed at all, except in my imagination," she thought wearily. "I loved something I made up, something that's just as dead as Melly is. I made a pretty suit of clothes and fell in love with it. And when Ashley came riding along, so handsome, so different, I put that suit on him and made him wear it whether it fitted him or not. And I wouldn't see what he really was. I kept on loving the pretty clothes-and not him at all.” Scarlett realized that she could have Ashley after Melanie died, but she felt differently about him. He was no longer the man she thought she wanted.Rhett Butler is an older man, and the admirer of Scarlett and third husband. He is much like Scarlett, strong willed and honest. Many people try to keep their distance from him because of his scandalous behavior. Though he can persuade people easily because of his charm, which is just like Scarlett. Throughout the novel Rhett pops in and out of Scarlett’s life and always leaves her, almost befuddled. He is a very mysterious man and during the Civil War he was prospering greatly, making him incredibly wealthy. Even though he is not one to show his emotions he admits to being incredibly jealous of Scarlett and Ashley. “I’ve been a jealous cad.” Rhett admitted this to Melanie after feeling guilty of hurting Scarlett. He admitted that he could always tell how Scarlett felt about Ashley and grew more and more jealous, wishing she would look at him like she looked at Ashley.
Ashley Wilkes was an incredibly highly looked upon young man, what every young girl considered perfect. He was very gallant but then after the war his spirit was broken and he was no longer that young lad anymore, the war did something to him. He was the love of Scarlett but he married his own cousin, Melanie, because he felt like it would be a better match for him than with Scarlett. He always remained very loyal to Scarlett because she always held a special place in his heart. When it became clear to Scarlett that she no longer loved Ashley, it also became clear to her that he really loved Melanie. “She's the only dream I ever had that didn't die in the face of reality.” After losing everything else from his once seemingly perfect life, Melanie was always there, and he did not want to lose her.
Goodreads
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/393976163Glogster